Cedar Park

You would think that at this point in my life, after seeing how God has consistently provided for us (most times miraculously and exactly what we needed) I would be convinced without a shadow of a doubt that God always has our best interest at heart. But here I am, once again, amazed, humbled, and so thankful. I sometimes forget the tiny little fact that God created us. I forget that He knows us better than we know ourselves. Which means He also knows exactly what kind of environment we need to be in, to use the gifts He has given us most effectively. To say that this new position is a "perfect fit" would be an understatement. Brad is definitely in his element! He's spent the entire week networking with youth staff, youth leaders, different department Heads in the church, the school on campus, and Northwest University. In fact I told him jokingly, "I'm not sure why you wanted us over here, we've only seen you for a total of 15 minutes in the past 6 days!" He's definitely been busy. But a good busy. There's a certain air of excitement that comes when somebody new is hired, and all the excitement and exuberance is contagious! Brad has spent hours dreaming, brain-storming, and envisioning what could be, and what it will take to make it happen. It's exciting to see what is taking place already! Our first youth service was Wednesday night. The youth kids welcomed each person in our family with a gift. Brad and I got a $75 gift card to Maggiano's, and a $35 gift card to the movie theater. And Reagan, Josiah and Madelyn each had a huge gift bag full of things that were amazingly right on target for what they were interested in! It was "Student Take Over" night, which means students run everything: worship, ice-breaker, and a portion of the sermon. Brad wrapped it up, and gave an altar call where 5 students gave their hearts to the Lord for the first time! So awesome!

The next day Brad spoke in the school that's on campus. As a welcoming gift they gave us tons of gift cards to different restaurants, coffee shops, and a bunch of Cedar Park Christian School t-shirts (see above picture). We've been showered with hugs, gifts, dinners and so far we haven't had to cook a meal! (I'm not complaining by any means!) Every night has been reconnecting with old friends, or making new friends. As Easter approaches the crazy pace of life is starting to hit home, and we're both getting a little tired. A good time to sit back and reflect on exactly what this Easter weekend means. We are so thankful that Christ loved us so much He was willing to suffer and die so that we could have freedom and life. It's amazing to think that not only is He alive, but He's working in our every day lives if we only take the time to stop and notice.

The Haugo's

We are staying with a family that lives literally one mile from Cedar Park. We have been so blessed! Not only are they an amazing family with five of the best, most well-behaved children I have ever seen in my life... but they have a huge house and the amazing gift of hospitality! We are staying downstairs, and have a living room, laundry room, bathroom, and two bedrooms to use. Christy is home-schooling her children so they have their own "park" in their backyard for recess, complete with a zipline, tree house, fort, swing set, bikes, and sports court. The kids are in heaven!

The Park

The next day (Tuesday) was even warmer! We met my sister and a friend from High School at the Park. The kids had fun playing on the toys, and feeding the ducks. Madelyn got her first sunburn after being outside for only 45 minutes! We had lunch with all the kids at McDonalds across the street, and then headed home for naps! A perfect way to spend the morning... getting them all tuckered out! =0)

We're here!

Flamingos

Josiah asked, "Why are there fish in with the
bears?" We didn't have the heart to tell him!

Watching the bears...

Josiah sat and watched the otter swim past
him for about 5 minutes! He loved it!

Elephants

All the grown-ups were glad this guy was
safely behind the glass window! Eeek!





Josiah "monkeying" around! =0)

Strike a "pose"

Josiah and Janae

Hugs!

We are officially here in Seattle! And I must say we couldn't have picked a better week to move! We've had beautiful weather all week!!! Monday and Tuesday we had low to mid 70's and the rest of the week hasn't been bad either! (watch me jinx myself now!) Because of all the sunshine we've been running like crazy, and this morning as I type this, I find myself almost nauseous I'm so tired. We started the week off going to the zoo on Monday. It was 74, not too hot, not too cold, and like Mary Poppins would say, "Practically Perfect In Every Way!" Thankfully I borrowed a stroller from the people we're staying with because we ended up staying from 9:30am-1:30pm! We went with some friends that have 3 kid just a little bit younger than ours. They had a blast together! In fact, maybe too much fun as we found Josiah with his arm around one of the girls at the end of the day! =0)

Moving

Helping mommy pack boxes! =0)


Reagan made a fort of boxes!

Maddy so wiped out she fell asleep eating lunch!

I look at these pictures of our last week in Coeur d' Alene, and shake my head. Partly in remembrance of the stressfulness of it, and partly because it seems like eons ago! Brad had already left for Seattle the week before, while the kids and I stayed home to pack up the house. Let me rephrase that... I stayed home and packed up the house while the kids went behind and destroyed every attempt that I made! =0) I love Madelyn's picture in her highchair... there's a saying that goes something like, "A picture says a thousand words..." and apparently it was rough on all of us! =0) We survived though, and thankfully almost every night someone from our youth group came over to help pack, or make dinner, or watch the kids! Such a blessing!